Legends of Amacia: Mysteries of Tiamat
Repercussions

A fewminutes later after getting dressed, Hannibal picked up his backpack and wentdown to the living room where Harry and Mary were sitting quietly. Harry sat inhis recliner wearing a T-shirt and jeans, reading the daily newspaper. Mary saton the far end of the sofa in a tan sundress working on some needlepoint. Harrylooked up at Hannibal as he plopped down on the end of the sofa nearest Harry,leaning back with a groan. “Rough night, huh?” Harry asked, noticing the drawnand haggard look on Hannibal’s face, which was much paler than normal.

Shaking hishead, Hannibal murmured, “You have no idea. I don’t think I’ve ever hadnightmares that bad. What time is it, anyway?”

“Quarterafter eleven; I was beginning to think you weren’t going to get up,” Harryreplied.

Hannibalrubbed the side of his face again. “Quarter after eleven,” he said grimly. “Idon’t know. How did you sleep last night?”

“Not verywell; I tossed and turned the whole night,” Harry answered. “I was haunted bysomething that I can’t quite remember or describe. It’s unnerving.”

Hanniballooked at him with a very serious look for several moments. “Someone orsomething is playing a sick sadistic game with us,” he declared. “I hadnightmares last night that really screwed with my head. I’m still shaking;see.” Hannibal held out his hand, showing it trembling noticeably. “The BlackPrince must know we’re coming because that’s who the nightmare was about,” hesaid with an equally serious tone. “It seems the vision last night must havetriggered some sort of spiritual assault of us. That’s the only reason I canreplace for the horrendous dreams I had last night. Mary, how did you sleep?”

“Okay, Isuppose,” Mary said as she looked up. “It wasn’t the best night but it wasn’tthe worst either.”

“Nonightmares?” Hannibal asked.

“No, thoughI did have some really weird dreams, but I wouldn’t call them nightmares andthey didn’t affect how I slept,” Mary returned.

“That’sgood. Apparently, the Lord blocked out much of what you saw last night hasallowed you some peace from the enemy’s attacks,” Hannibal stated. “In ourcases,” he said, referring to himself and Harry, “we must be taking hits fromthe enemy because of what we saw and remember. I got hit big time since I seemto be at the focus of what’s going on.”

Harry eyedHannibal suspiciously, seeing something was really eating at him. “I can seesomething has really rattled your cage,” Harry declared. “You keep talkingabout the nightmare. Care to share it? I know when something is reallybothering me, especially a dream, I share it with Mary or you and it helps medeal with it. I think you should do the same.”

“I don’tknow,” Hannibal replied softly. “It’s so bizarre and hideous that I’m havingtrouble even comprehending it. The thing that baffles me is I remember it as ifit really happened. Most of the time when I get bad dreams, they fade awayquickly right after I wake up so I don’t remember them. But for some strangereason, I remember it vividly. God, I wish I could just forget that horrorshow.”

“That’s whyyou need to share it,” Harry insisted. “I’ve never seen you encounter somethingyou couldn’t handle. But whatever this dream is has you going. It must havereally been a doozy. If it’s that bad and you remember it so vividly, maybeit’s the Lord telling you to share it. I promise we’ll keep this strictlybetween us.”

Hannibalsighed deeply, saying, “I guess you’re right. You’ve always been there for me.But this is so bizarre and so embarrassing that I hesitate to tell it.”

“There’snothing to be embarrassed about,” Mary cooed as she put down her needlepointand moved beside Hannibal. Putting her hand on his knee, she said, “It’s okayto tell it. It was just a dream.”

“I’m not sosure,” Hannibal retorted softly. “It seemed to be much more than just a dream.The Black Prince has his slimy fingerprints all over it.”

“That’s whyyou need to tell it,” Harry answered. “You can’t fight that monster alone. I’ma part of this and you know it. Besides, we can’t help you if you don’t tell uswhat the problem is. We’re not mind readers. Now tell us this nightmare thathas so rattled your cage.”

“Verywell,” Hannibal said, blushing deeply. “But when you’re shocked out of yourgourd, just remember…you asked for it.”

“Just tellus,” Harry insisted.

“Okay,”Hannibal said in a soft, shaky tone. “Sometime during the night, I don’t knowwhen, I began to have a series of bizarre dreams about the Black Prince andthis Emperor that he supposedly infests. In the dreams, I was caught andbrought before this demon in chains into the very throne room we saw whenGabriel showed us the Black Prince. He then proceeded to kick my ass afterwhich the dream changed.”

Hannibalpaled significantly and swallowed hard. Harry saw the look and softened hisdemanding countenance. “Go on, what happened next? It’s okay,” Harry coaxed.

“When thedream resumed, I found myself strapped into a strange metal chair with heavyrestraints,” Hannibal murmured, his voice shaking noticeably. “This nightmaremachine with dozens of mechanized tentacles and a giant robot eye swarmed me,sticking me with its tentacles and…I’m having trouble even saying whathappened.”

Mary puther arm around Hannibal and held his hand. “Go ahead,” she cooed. “We’re hereto help you deal with this.”

“Yeah,”Harry stated, sitting on the armrest of the sofa and putting his hand onHannibal’s shoulder. “We’re here. There’s nothing you can say that will changehow we feel about you.”

“ThanksHarry,” Hannibal said as his courage rose.

“Whathappened next?” Mary asked.

“I don’tknow how to describe it,” Hannibal whispered. “That machine did something to mybody. I lifted out of my body and watched it mutate into a woman right in frontof me. That machine turned me into a woman apparently from the inside out! Icould feel it happening too, right down to a cellar level. It was horrendous.”

Mary’s eyesgrew wide and she gasped in horror. Harry’s face fell with dismay. “No wonderyou’re upset,” Harry stated. “I would be too if I dreamed that some mechanizedoctopus had turned me into a girl against my will.”

“You don’tknow the half of it,” Hannibal stated grimly. “Just before the transformationcompleted, the dream faded a second time. When the nightmare returned the thirdtime, I found myself hanging immobilized over a place that….” Hannibal choked,sobbing softly with his face in his hands.

Mary pulledhim in to a caring embrace, stunned to see Hannibal so vulnerable. “It’s okay,”she cooed in his ear, stroking his back gently. “It was just a nightmare.”

Harry puthis arm around Hannibal too, trying to provide some emotional support. “Man.That must have been some hell of a bad dream to have you so worked up. I’venever seen you like this,” he murmured.

“You haveno idea,” Hannibal blurted out, realizing that if he didn’t tell the nightmare,it would haunt him for the rest of his life. “I’ve seen and done things in mylife that I’m not proud of and wish I could undo, but I can’t. But those thingsdon’t hold a candle to this. This nightmare is so bad I can barely even replacewords for it.”

“Maybe youshould just leave it be,” Mary suggested. “At least until you can get a grip onit.”

“I have totell it,” Hannibal whimpered, wiping the tears from his eyes. “If I don’t getthis off my chest now, I’ll never get rid of it. It’ll haunt me until the day Idie.”

“Then tellus,” Harry replied. “And don’t hold back. We can take it.”

“I don’tknow if you can,” Hannibal admitted. “I’m having trouble dealing with itmyself.”

“That’s whyyou have to tell it,” Harry insisted. “You’ve admitted that you can’t handlethis by yourself. So share it with us so we can help you carry this burden.”

“You’re agood man, Harry,” Hannibal replied, gaining more composure. “Thank you. Thisother place I saw in the nightmare, I don’t know where it was, or even if sucha terrible place exists. But I am convinced that if such a place does exist,the Emperor and the Black Prince are directly responsible for it.”

“What didit look like?” Mary asked.

“It was ahuge place, about the size of a large coliseum,” Hannibal whispered, his voiceshaking. “I was…I can’t believe I’m saying this. When the dream resumed in thishellish place, I was again a woman, this time with my arms cut off above theelbows and my legs severed above my knees.” He shuddered violent as the tearsrenewed their trip down his cheeks, stating, “I was mounted on a table orsomething like a god-damned trophy and hung high above the floor where I sawdozens, maybe as many as a hundred women being ravished and tormented by thesame machine that mutated my body earlier in the dream. The strangest part isthat I saw no men committing these atrocities. Only the machine was doing it.There wasn’t a man to be seen anywhere in that god-awful place.” Mary and Harrygasped in horror as Hannibal described in gruesome detail what he saw in thatpart of the nightmare; acts so degrading and horrid being committed uponhelpless women by the infernal machine that Hannibal had to stop several timesto gather his composure before continuing. After describing the torture floor,Hannibal said, “Then the machine eye approached me and begged me to free it andthe girls there. An image of an incredibly beautiful woman appeared in themachine’s eye and begged for freedom just before an image of the Black Princeappeared in the same eye and ate her in front of me.” Hannibal clenched hiseyes shut and covered his mouth with his hand, trying to stifle the horror thatstill filled him. “The Black Prince then told me she, the women, and I belongedto him and I couldn’t change my destiny…that we belonged to him forever,” hewept. “He then swept out of the machine eye and swallowed me. The Black Princewas laughing at me the whole time.

“When thedarkness lightened the last time, the nightmare changed again. I found myselfin absolutely the strangest place I’ve ever seen. It looked like a giantcrystal Stonehenge on top of a mountain. But what was even worse is that I wasthere as a woman again. The only difference from before is I had this strangegray dress on instead of being naked.” Hannibal’s face blushed crimson withembarrassment. “God, I’ve had some bad dreams before, but never like this andit felt so real,” he admitted. “I’ve never dreamed being forcibly turned into awoman before and it’s so humiliating to admit it. But that’s not the worstpart.”

“What’s theworst part?” Mary asked, stunned by the bizarre and horrid nature of Hannibal’snightmare.

“Thatcrystal circle was surrounded by a demoniac horde that defies description,”Hannibal said, his voice shaking again, “a plague of creatures so alien and ofsuch evil I have trouble comprehending their very existence. They constantlytried to get to me but couldn’t breech the crystal circle. Something about thecircle kept them at bay. Also, the Black Prince was there taunting me, tellingme how I was his and he would eat my soul and feed my carcass to his friendsfrom the Abyss, that humanity was destined to be food of these beasts. Then theground gave way inside the circle and I woke up. The dream was so vivid andreal that I had to look at myself to be sure I was still me and not a woman.God have mercy…what a horrid, humiliating, embarrassing nightmare. My bloodstill runs cold remembering it. But I’m not sure it was just a dream. It was sovivid. I could feel that machine changing my body cell by cell, mutating meinto something I am not. It felt like my whole body was on fire on the inside.And what I saw in that torture chamber was so real I can still hear their moansand cries of desperation. If that wasn’t hell, then I don’t know what is.”Hannibal shuddered and added, “God, I hope I never have a dream like thatagain.”

“I wouldsay so,” Harry agreed. “I’ve never seen anything shake you until now. And afterhearing you tell us about the dream, I can understand why. What you said aboutthat torture floor is utterly heinous. I’m having trouble accepting that anyonecould be that demented.”

“The BlackPrince and this Emperor he infests are,” Hannibal declared. “He’s a monsterdemon, even more sinister and sadistic than Dezarcus.”

Mary smiledwarmly at Hannibal and held his hand. “That may be,” Mary declared. “But asshocking and bad as it was, you must remember, it was just a dream, Hannibal;that’s all. There’s nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. But I must sayit did surprise the thunder out of me when you said that you dreamed of beingturned into a woman by force and then mounted like a trophy. That’s soincredibly bizarre. Did you ever feel a countering force to the evil being doneto you in the dream?”

“What doyou mean?” Hannibal asked, surprised by the question.

“I think Iknow what she means,” Harry intruded. “Did you feel the power of the Lordcountering the evil in the dream? Was there a tension in the dreams between thepower of good and evil? What comes to my mind is the part where you saw thegirl in the machine eye begging for help just before the Black Prince ate her.Something was going on there that I think you missed.”

Hannibal’smouth fell open with a gasp. “Oh my Lord,” he murmured. “I was so strung out bybeing a forcibly turned into a woman that I missed that entirely. Yes, I mustadmit I did feel a warfare going on in the dream between Heaven and Hell.Despite my mutated and mounted status, I pitied that woman in the machine eyeand wanted to help her. She was as much a prisoner as I was. I can’t believe Imissed that.”

“I thoughtso,” Harry replied. “You replace yourself caught in something you don’tunderstand, Hannibal. This dream proves it.”

“I know,”Hannibal stated glumly. “I just wish I knew what it was. It’s been so longsince I’ve had this much contact with the spiritual plane I’m just a bitconfused as to what’s actually going on here.”

“You don’tneed to understand it,” Mary declared, speaking from her heart and inspiration.“What you need to do is just have faith in the Lord that He will see thingsdone the right way. You mustn’t let this nightmare shake your determination togo to Amacia. That much I know from what I remember of last night. Just becauseyou have a horrid nightmare that has shaken your resolve doesn’t mean you canback out on what the Lord told you to do. Besides, I’ve noticed as you’veshared this atrocious dream with us, you’ve regained your composure andconfidence. You were right to share it with us. There’s no way you could handlethat hellish nightmare by yourself, but with our help, you’re getting controlover it rather than letting it control you. Do you feel better now that you’veshared it?”

“Oh what abeautiful gem of wisdom,” Hannibal crowed. “Thank you for pointing that out,Mary.”

“You’rewelcome,” Mary replied with a smile. “Do you feel better now?”

“As amatter of fact, I do,” Hannibal said with his voice not so shaky. “I feel likea burden has been lifted off of me. Thanks for not mocking me.”

“We’d neverdo that,” Mary said, “Especially after what you told us last night about yourpast and what you said about this nightmare. Maybe this was a dream of yourfuture?”

“God, Ihope not,” Hannibal answered. “I don’t relish being forcibly turned into a womanby a mechanized monster and mounted like deer head.”

“I agree.After what’s just come out concerning this dream, I think you should reallypray about it, Hannibal,” Harry insisted. “I’ve never seen anything turn youinto a scared little boy, but this did. You need to ask the Lord what thisglimpse from Bizarro World means.”

“You’reright,” Hannibal replied. “I need ask the Lord about this nightmare. Only Hecan show me what it means, if it means anything. But one thing I do know thatthe Lord is going to allow us to be hit some in order to toughen us up. I’llnot forget this particularly nasty hit any time soon. We must keep praying tohelp us endure hits like this.”

“Amen tothat,” Harry agreed.

“Still, Ihope I don’t have to endure what I saw in that nightmare,” Hannibal admitted.“That’s just too much. You will keep this between us, won’t you?”

“Ofcourse,” Harry replied, returning to his chair. “That dream is so strange andembarrassing I don’t believe anyone would want to hear it anyway unless they’rescrewed up in the head.”

“Thankyou,” Hannibal replied, relief evident in his tone. “By the way, where’sDennis?”

“He’s atschool right now,” Harry answered. “The suspension ended yesterday so he’s inschool right now.”

“That’sgood. I’m glad he wasn’t around to hear that nightmare,” Hannibal said plainly.“It’s not the sort of thing he should hear. Besides, after what he heard lastnight, I’m sure he has some stories for his classmates this morning.” Justthen, his pack abruptly started ringing.